The present invention pertains to adaptive antenna arrays and especially to adaptive antenna arrays using the steepest descent algorithm, as disclosed in copending application filed Mar. 22, 1979, Ser. No. 22,663, entitled "STEEPEST DESCENT CONTROLLER FOR AN ADAPTIVE ANTENNA ARRAY", bearing Motorola docket number GE-79677. In general, all prior art adaptive array apparatus has had the form of a parallel process in the sense that all adjustable weight parameters are driven by means of dedicated, similar and simultaneous gradient controlling components. The traditional parallel system requires duplication of associated hardware resulting in additional size and cost. While it is believed that some effort has been made to minimize duplication of associated hardware through timesharing control elements, the general impression among those skilled in the field of adaptive array processing is that sequential gradient control is an impractical adaptive array technique because of its slower convergence.